The Fifth Wave

Om Malik and Michael Copeland have written an article on what they call the 'Fifth Wave'. They refer to Robert Hof's 'Power of Us' piece in BusinessWeek and claim to be "going under the hood and explaining perhaps why what Hof's writing about is happening." I haven't read the 'Fifth Wave' article since I'm not a Business 2.0 subscriber. Now let's suppose it's at least as good as Hof's article, or may be even comparable to Chris Anderson's 'The Long Tail'. In terms of impact, will ever come close? I don't think so. And that's because of Business 2.0's subscriber policy which definitely limits the reach of the thoughts of these authors. And therefore also decreases the impact Business 2.0 can make. What is Business 2.0's strategy here...?

"The Fifth Wave, is the fifth wave of computing, with first four being represented by mainframes, minicomputers, personal computers, and client-server/Internet 1.0. The fifth wave is powered by cheap commodity computing, open platforms and of course, persistent connectivity, be it broadband at home or narrowband while on the go. The remix of these three ingredients has created a platform which is the spring board of innovation."

Real and virtual social experiences

It's funny to read about how social experiences can differ if you compare the real world to the virtual world (although that's a distinction I do not really like). Enjoy Joi Ito's 'case' over here and don't forget to read the comments as well.

"Try a female character and you might notice the difference just as interesting. People abuse this difference though. At one point, I found myself being the only male character among a hundred female newbies. Another interesting thing is that, if you are observant enough, you can tell the sex and approximate age of the person behind a character. Lots of areas to do some real *cough* research in."

Simpay fails (for now)

Not good.

"Instead, Simpay’s operations will be scaled back with immediate effect. Member operators will be able to exploit Simpay’s intellectual property rights at a national level, although international interoperability remains a goal. The members will make known their individual plans in due course."

Entertainment blogs

When we started the Eccky project at Media Republic, we had some discussion on whether or not a public weblog would be a good idea. At that time there were no well know entertainment brands or products that had their own weblog. It turned out to be succesful for us, and slowly there are more companies in this industry that are beginning to understand the value a blog can bring.

"Done right, blogs offer a cheap and easy way for the filmmakers to converse with their most avid supporters, the very same folks that will get the word out about the movie in the months prior to its release. And its not just big blockbuster movies that can benefit: Posts to Zach Braff's Garden State blog (a movie released months ago) still regularly attract thousands of comments from loyal fans. That sort of community involvement and excitment usually costs tens of millions to build (if it's possible at all), so don't be surprised to see scores of these blogs popping up around your favorite flicks."

Mobile internet getting better soon

With the walled gardens gone, the mobile internet might benefit in terms of relevance and usability as a new portal and search engine war has started.

"One thing to note: This battle will directly benefit consumers, sooner rather than later. What it portends is a day when carriers won't have complete control over the content their customers access from the phone. The walled-garden strategy espoused by everyone from Vodafone to Verizon Wireless will soon be a thing of the past."

Why we want moblogging

Well, this is why:

"It lets you document your experience right on the spot," he said. "If you get dumped by your girlfriend or boyfriend, you can talk about how much they stink," without having to go home and write about it.

Free market research

I just wonder how many companies actually read user forums where things related to their brands and products are being discussed. I've met too many marketers that seem to have no interest in getting to really know their customers.

"In fact, blogs may be grabbing all the media headlines, but online communities like FlyerTalk are wielding a different kind of influence in the corporate world, providing instant feedback from those critics who marketers have called influencers. Just by logging on, companies can study, learn from and even respond to the cacophony of opinions about what they are doing wrong and what they are doing right without spending a dime on focus groups or market research."

Funny people those Koreans

25% of all Koreans have participated in a Kart Rider race at least once. Fascinating, as is the game's revenue model.

"Kart Rider's online store offers more than 100 digital items such as special $1 paint jobs and tools like 40¢ balloons that can protect a player's car by lifting it above the track when an opponent launches a missile (90¢). The most expensive car will set you back $9.80 (it handles a bit better than one costing $1.50)."

Google proof

Simple things like this really demonstrate how the world (in some respects) is changing fast. Too fast for some apparently...

"In a recent court case where the plaintiff needed to find a missing defendant, but could not, the judge scolded the plaintiff, pointing out that a simple Google search turned up the missing person's address, as well as other info that would help to find the guy."

Give us the data!

Why is it that operators still don't understand the easiest way to make money?

"A very US carrier Sprint has announced some ho-hum direction-finding and roadside assitance services, along with some functionality for enterprise users to create asset and employee tracking services -- nothing exciting, and the type of least-worst solution at which operators thrive. Why not open up the data to outside developers, figure out how to reasonably bill for it, and let people come up with some interesting applications?"

The new chalkboard

GPS tags for news items

Adding GPS-coordinates to news items is an interesting idea, can't wait to see what other innovative uses wil pop up.

"I can't over-stress how important it is for news organizations to start thinking about this today rather than waiting for bloggers to do it and then playing catch-up. Buying a $50 GPS unit for reporters is starting to look more like an insurance investment than a capital expense."

Covering the story of your life

I guess my family is a bit larger than I thought (based on the statistics of my photoblog) when reading BusinessWeek's conclusion on moblogging....

"The next morning, cell phone in pocket, I was a potential moblogging reporter deployed in the New York metro area. However, seeing that no dramatic news was breaking along my path, I moblogged my way to work. The results, if you care to look, are every bit as boring as thousands of other mobile postings in the blog world. But my mother and perhaps a couple other fans might find something there to like."

What are patents for?

We are so used to the concept of patents that we have accepted them as a fact of 'life'. But we might want to reconsider that, something I've been wondering about before...

"Patents, however, tend to limit those emerging markets by putting up inefficiencies in the way that make it much more expensive to experiment with the new ideas and find a way to market them. This idea isn't just backed up by theory -- but in practice as well. It's why the economies of the Netherlands and Switzerland both developed much faster in a time when they had no patents. It's good to see a more thorough exploration of these ideas -- and hopefully some of it will eventually sink into the heads of policy makers as well."

Better revenue model for movies?

Does this proof that a different revenue model (free distribution) for movies is possible, or will it only work with true hits that have a mass appeal?

"According to a recent article in Forbes ("Special Report: Star Wars") the Star Wars media empire has earned $20 billion since the original film in 1977. According to Forbes, here is the breakdown (inflation adjusted dollars):

$5.67 billion through movie theater
$9 billion for Star Wars toys
$1.5 billion for video games
$700 million for publishing
and just $2.8 Billion for video and DVD distribution.

So here is the question which you should be asking yourself. If you released full digital copies of all of the Star Wars films -- with no DRM -- allowing anyone to duplicate and distribute to their hearts contents... would sales in the toys, video games, and publishing categories increase by enough to offset the loss in sales from video and DVD?"

Breaking out of the walled garden

I've always thought starting out with a walled-garden approach for offering content on mobile devices makes sense because it's easier to educate users that way. It's good to see that Vodafone understands this as well, and that they now also understand it's time for phase two...

"The surprising thing is how open operators are starting to be about the effect this is having on their portals. "Direct to consumer was 70% of our £500 million 2004 market," said Vodafone's head of commercial partnerships, Jeremy Flynn. "The portal is still vital and Live! brought the mass market. Vodafone Live! will be the showcase, but the money and margin is in facilitating off-portal services."

User comments become journalism

Poynter discusses an interesting dilemma the Ventura County Star had to deal with. A woman revealed the name of a possible murderer in a comment on a newspaper article published online before the paper had confirmation that this person really was the murderer. I see no reason why they should have removed the comment (and they didn't), as long as it is clear to readers that this was a comment from another reader.

"Moore traded e-mails with the woman and found that she had been following the case closely and had heard enough clues to enable her to do some Internet sleuthing -- using freely accessible websites and databases -- and figure out the suspect's name in about 20 minutes. Unbound by traditional journalism rules like making sure she was right, she posted the name."

Escaping your Google history

Given the fact I have multiple weblogs, you might think I have something to hide after reading this...

"Ironically, the most effective method to root out your past seems to be to establish a solid current online presence, so that your present self is a more "relevant" result for your name than your past achievements. That, however, is quite a chore for most people. Our pasts have usually been protected by the "security by obscurity" adage -- not necessarily under lock and key, but tucked away. Now that Google is doing its best to root out obscurity, that security is becoming increasingly exposed."

The fall of SMS

SMS won't last forever, IM on mobile phones is simply too compelling. But operators, if smart, do have choices that will let them make the most from SMS while it lasts.

"One way to avoid this threat is to move further towards offering flat-rate pricing that includes messaging. In doing so, the messaging part is looked up on as being "free," and there's less incentive to look for messaging alternatives. Another, is to focus more on developing SMS as a platform for additional applications and services. This is already starting with various premium SMS offerings, but it needs to go further to differentiate SMS as a platform from basic text messaging. Either way, though, operators who think their SMS revenue is secure probably need to start thinking again."

The power of us

Long article in BusinessWeek on the "democratization of industry" as C.K. Prahalad calls it. It's a nice overview of how the internet enables fundamental changes in the economy and society in general.

A big, hairy, monstrous organism, that is. The nearly 1 billion people online worldwide -- along with their shared knowledge, social contacts, online reputations, computing power, and more -- are rapidly becoming a collective force of unprecedented power. For the first time in human history, mass cooperation across time and space is suddenly economical.

Visible advertising

How come the Google text ads are becoming more relevant, and therefore more visible? Is it because we're learning to see them, are advertisers getting smarter?

"I do a couple of searches on Google, and the suggestions start popping up. Suddenly I notice that the results on the right (i.e., the sponsored links, or ads if you will) are more relevant and appealing to me than the so called "organic results." This is happening more frequently now than before, and I can't really explain why. I just know that I am not the only one to say this."

Music, bands and friends

A couple of months ago I created a MySpace, hoping to understand why it is such a huge succes. I still don't really get it, but BusinessWeek tries to explain it.

Whichever company wins, it's clear that social networking is becoming a cultural phenomenon. It's evolving into a new form of media, part entertainment and part communications. Carley watches the drama of other peoples' lives on the Net, rather than on TV. At the same time, he and his friends communicate with each other in new ways, posting blog items on their MySpace pages and instant messaging when they spot a friend online. Carley recently found out that a former girlfriend was in a new relationship and moving to California by reading her MySpace site.

Internet is God

Another post with a religious twist. Chris Lydon, who started a radio station called Open Source, has written down some of the thoughts and visions he has on the internet. I liked this analogy:

"My version: one of the unspoken reasons we are drawn to the Internet is that it realizes so many of our primal old definitions of God. It’s invisible. It’s everywhere. It knows everything. Sing it now: It’s got the whole world in its hands. Its eye is on the sparrow, paraphrasing the Ethel Waters song, and I know it watches me. Why else do we keep Googling ourselves if not to be reminded that the Internet knows who I am, and who you are, too. The Internet — so closely resembling the “noosphere” that Teilhard de Chardin foresaw 50 years ago — marks a new stage of human evolution. We do not begin to see the dimensions of the new reality."

Bless me, Blog, for I've sinned

PostSecret is a weblog where people can share their confessions by sending them through regular mail. The result is entertaining.

"No fakeness? Oh, but there is. And it is the fakeness, the artifice and the performance that make this confessional worth peeking at. The secret sharers here aren't mindless flashers but practiced strippers. They don't want to get rid of their secrets. They love them. They arrange them. They tend them. They turn them into fetishes. And that's the secret of PostSecret. It isn't really a true confessional after all. It is a piece of collaborative art."

If it's data, it will move over the Internet

Interesting analysis on why Wal-Mart decided to withdraw from the mail-order movie rental business. But if this decision is so obvious, why did they start this business in the first place?

"THAT doesn't mean that paper and discs have no future, but it's not a very bright one when it comes to transmitting news, information or entertainment. The day may come when not only DVD's by mail but traditional mail itself becomes obsolete. If some of us can make do with mobile phones, dispensing with land lines altogether, is it so far-fetched that some day people won't even bother to have mailboxes? Paper junk mail, ghettoized to a postal system that carries little else, may go the way of telegrams, leaving delivery services to focus on packages that require physical delivery. You can't download a shirt, after all. That day hasn't yet arrived, but maybe the folks at Wal-Mart know something that the rest of us only pretend to know: if it's data, it will move over the Internet. And maybe, just maybe, it's time to stop pretending otherwise."

Royal blogging

Great story in Wired on the former Cambodian king, now 82 years old and an active blogger with impact.

"Sihanouk's website, which incorporates his blog in French, Khmer or English, attracts about 1,000 visitors daily from around the world. After serving as king, president and prime minister at various times, he now calls himself "a senior citizen who hasn't any official power," but his views remain relevant enough to be summarized in the Cambodian press for the benefit of the many Cambodians who are too poor to have internet access."

Virtual gaming, real profits

Although I have little time to play it myself, I watch developments around Second Life with great interest. It's just too fascinating. The New York Times has a rather superficial article on the real world economics of games like these, but I really liked this quote about someone's second life that resembles his 'first' life.

"But Mr. Ainsworth found his moneymaking options in The Sims "very limited"; he switched to Second Life, a virtual world that is less a game than a three-dimensional environment in which players can do whatever they choose. There, he has leveraged his real-life experience - he is a developer and contractor - into an online business. In 14 locations in Second Life's virtual world, he owns enough "land" to rent space to nearly 50 retailers, who in turn earn virtual money selling everything from jewelry to clothing to art (all nonexistent, of course). Mr. Ainsworth converts his game profits into real money on sites like eBay, Ige and gamingopenmarket, which charge a small fee, and he includes that income on his tax returns."

Why corporate blogging makes sense

Microsoft clearly demonstrates why corporate blogging makes sense and works.

"Corporate customers are brought in to help with product designs early on. Engineers are now routinely dispatched to the field to see how customers use technology and what they want. More than a thousand engineers and product managers in Mr. Rudder's unit have started blogs in the last couple of years to explain what Microsoft is doing and to field comments and criticism from customers and programmers outside the company."

Like it's 1999

Why do websites today still look so much like websites from the late nineties?

"I wonder if we're about to get stuck here as well? As we enter a broadband world, with better browsers and all sorts of tools to improve the experience, is everyone going to be stuck emulating what succeeded in 1999?"

Mobile banking break-throughs

But not in 'our' world. There's more innovation in countries where there is no pre-existing banking infrastructure, something we've also seen in telecoms. And it are exactly those developments that have paved the way for mobile banking in a way we hardly see in Europe for instance.

"Although many Western research companies still stick to the idea that mobile usage remains the preserve of the relatively well off, many countries in Africa are showing through prepaid, handset sharing and the sheer desire to own a mobile despite having very little income, that mobile service can reach all parts of the populace. The great advantage for m-banking in African countries is that the conflicts between the stakeholders simply don't exist in the same way as in Europe and the West. Most of those players have little or no current business in the area, and see m-banking as an opportunity, rather than a threat, to their business models."

MoSoSo's

Russel from The Mobile Technology Weblog takes a look at mobile social software. It's easy to come up with great ideas in this area, but they almost always fail. Someday however...

"The basic idea of a MoSoSo is to overlay a location and time element to the idea of digital networking. So it enables you to find people in your vicinity and at that time for social, sexual/dating or business networking. It's worth noting that the time variable is often overlooked in analysis of MoSoSo dynamics."

Hompy

Joi Ito explains a bit about the succes of Hompy, a sort of homepage that 10 out of 45 million Koreans have. Also read his thoughts on why the blogging landscape in Korea differs from 'ours', he thinks OhmyNews might have something to do with that.

"According to articles in the press, there are 5-6 million blogs. These are not to be confused with hompy. Hompy (a derivative of home page) are personal home pages with photo albums, guest books, avatars, background skins, and background music. There are approximately 10 million hompy pages. In a city with a population of 10 million and a country with a population of 45 million, that's quite impressive. Companies seem to be making money selling background music and items for hompy pages. Most of the posts are focused on photos and one line comments on pages of friends. They are generally closed communities and are focused more on real-time presence-like communication rather than diary or dialog."

The showroom business model

The retail business model might be changing, and revenues will not be primarily based on a percentage of sales, but more and more on fees for displaying and demonstrating products. A model that incorporates the best from both the offline and online world.

"According to Anthony Lee, Epicenter's chief executive, Internet and catalogue retailers can use Epicenter to establish a place where their customers can feel, and in some cases try on, merchandise. The Epicenter design also offers the low overhead and reduced need for sales staff that online and catalogue retailers are accustomed to."

Advertisers want something different

Times are still difficult for traditional advertising agencies, The New York Times takes a look. A lady from Publicis explains it all quite well.

"Creativity used to be, 'Think inside the box.' Then it was, 'Think outside the box.' Now, there's no box," said Linda Kaplan Thaler, chief executive of Kaplan Thaler, part of the Publicis Groupe."